cradle of forest
by Stars In Tokyo
Summary: DH SPOILERS: snape's experiences after being bitten by nagini. where do all the potion masters go when they die?


**a/n** : this is my 1st harry potter fic, and it might not make any sense at all. just a warning.

"Lily," was the first word that passed Snape's lips.

He was standing in a very familiar spot, and yet he could not exactly place where he was. He stood still in a small patch of green grass; the sun was shining overhead. The trees that surrounded him cast shadows, so only patches of light shone through. The sound of flowing water could be heard close by. Snape racked his brain, in an attempt to figure out how he had gotten to where he was. It started to come back to him in short flashes.

Shrieking Shack. Voldemort. "I regret what must happen." Serpent. Shock. Blood. Footsteps. Harry Potter. Memories. Coldness, coldness. And then there was nothing…

But wait, those eyes! Green eyes! The eyes that once belonged to his beloved…

The eyes that had once belonged to his beloved were staring back at him. Snape gasped and stumbled backward, in complete shock. It was as if those emerald green eyes had materialized before him solely from his memory. They plunged into his soul, piercing his very being. Lily smiled at him and laughed.

"Did I scare you, Sev?" she asked, looking up at him.

"No– I just-" Snape stammered, as he stared at her in amazement. It simply could not be.

Lily was dead, murdered, gone forever…unless…

"Have you forgotten about our secret place all ready? You're the one that found it!" Lily stood with her arms crossed against her chest.

Snape gazed into Lily's face, drinking her in. She was the same beautiful girl that he had remembered, but she was young again. She couldn't have been a day older than fourteen. He turned to the river that flowed through the forest, rushed forward, and fell to his knees at the bank. Snape peered into the water and saw a young boy staring back, hook nosed and dirty haired: his own reflection. By the looks of it, he was around the same age as Lily.

"C'mon, Sev! Get with the program!" Lily rolled her eyes at him, "It's summer vacation!"

She lay down on the grass, staring into the patches of blue sky that came in between the shadows of the tree branches. Just then, he knew where he was: the thicket of trees where he and Lily would meet up when they were children. She craned her head to look up at him, and giggled.

"C'mon! What are you waiting for?" she said, with a smile.

"Wh-What do you mean, w-waiting for?" Snape stuttered feeling very confused. Lily sat up and paused for a moment.

"Are you mistaking me for…someone else?" she asked curiously.

"No!" Snape quickly retorted, "Lily…"

Lily released a sigh of relief.

"Good, I thought someone had erased your memory or something!" she said with a laugh, and fell back in her previous position, gazing up at the sky.

How could he possibly forget Lily Evans? It did not matter how much he had tried. His feelings for her were just too great; he could never let go. She was his only childhood friend, the only one who ever tried to comfort him, the only one who ever defended him against _them_…

Snape moved cautiously toward her, still unable to understand how he arrived at this place. Feeling awkward, he sat down beside her. His eyes moved slowly over her features: her thick, red hair, her slender figure, her eyes, her eyes…

Severus Snape was dead.

It took him until that moment to realize what had really happened. He gingerly touched his neck and felt two large puncture wounds, which Lily did not seem to notice. The wounds were from a fatal snake bite, the bite that had ended his life. But if he was dead, then what was all of this? The trees? The river? And how did he return to his youth? Dead people could not see, hear, touch. Dead people could not think. Dead people could not feel emotions. But all of these things were now happening for Severus, and it left him utterly perplexed, and slightly frightened. He was most certainly not living; there was no way a human being (wizard or otherwise) could survive Nagini's venom. He was so lost in his own thoughts; he did not even notice that Lily was kneeling right before him.

"Sev!" she shouted, shaking his shoulders, "Hey, Sev! Severus?"

It was as if he had just awoken from a long sleep; his head jerked up and gazed up at her without blinking. She had her head cocked to the side, as she gave him a most curious look.

"Severus, are you okay?" she asked in a serious tone. He looked up at her and finally blinked.

"Lily," he asked slowly, "Is this…Heaven?" She paused for a moment, but then smiled.

"You know what, Severus?" she replied in a soft whisper, grasping his hands in hers, "I think it is."


End file.
